"(Welker's) a good player, but he's not that big or a real athletic guy" Phillips said. "He's a quick guy that gets open on option routes. (Cornerback Brandon) Harris actually played him pretty good. He got a holding penalty that hurt us early in the game. But Harris played pretty well ... If we don't get him on a speed guy, we're in good shape."

In this day and age when folks are stretching to find bulletin board material, the Welker comments are already getting noticed in New England. But it's hard to argue with anything that Phillips says. Welker was held down by Harris last game, and Joseph would be better used on Brandon Lloyd or tight end Aaron Hernandez.

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"If you put a corner on him, they're not quite as good," Phillips said.

Phillips noted that the Patriots create lots of matchup problems because their two tight ends can act as wide receivers.

"They're athletic enough to play out in space. So that gives you matchup problems. If you play your base defense against them it's one thing, and if you play a sub defense against them it's something else. If you play a sub, what happens a lot of times with the two tight ends is they just run over people," Phillips said.

When you face the Patriots, defenses have to pick their poison. It sounds like Phillips will take his chances, focusing his energy away from Welker.

UPDATE: Phillips later took to Twitter to say more about Welker on Thursday. We love Wade Phillips: